WEBVTT - Episode 3: A History of the Devil 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.360 The Minowat Caves is intended for mature audiences. It contains 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:07.280 strong language and depictions of bullying, violence, and sexual assault 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.840 that some may find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised. Also, 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:14.320 this is an extremely immersive experience, and headphones are recommended. 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:21.000 You're listening to The Manawat Caves, a production of iHeartRadio, 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:38.040 Blumhouse Television, and Psycopia Pictures. Her skin glowed. All the 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:42.559 other kids had that no look, no shine to him, 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:50.440 but she glowed. I don't want to build her. You 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:57.560 wanted that glow for your own. It weren't for me. 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:07.000 Like I said, I had to, you had tom. Are 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.640 you saying that someone made you do it? Are you 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.880 saying that there was somebody that was horsing now? I 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:17.600 ain't nobody made me m I think what you're saying 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:23.560 is that someone coerced you. You know, he showed me 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:36.120 the way, though. Who I'm supposed to talk about him? 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:56.080 Mister Rydell? Who is he? Every minute I remain in 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:02.760 Maniwa County, In every minute James Fincher's execution draws near 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:15.880 the thick of the fall gets a ghost and I 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.720 need to set things right. The only way to do 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:22.680 that is to find out who or what really killed 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:33.720 the Hadley brothers and sings time claim save Steeds. You 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.959 can't get elected sheriff to man a Walk County without 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.560 the endorsement of the first Baptist Church. Delivering on a 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.560 case like this was only sure fire away Hooper could 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:54.920 guarantee his re election. The truth to leave Hi, I'm 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.400 give you a bit of advice tween you and me. 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.840 I wouldn't go to around stirring up troubled. If I 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:06.079 was you, He's passed if you just let things play 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:19.000 out the way they're supposed to. August fourth, twenty twenty one. 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:27.520 It's eleven. It's eleven eleven am. I'm tracing Detective Solomon 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:31.359 Smith's footsteps from his investigation of the Haley murders fourteen 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:36.520 years ago. One place's investigation led him Carter High School. 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:40.320 So this morning I'm meeting with Principal Wesley Hunt. Mister 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.360 Hunt was principal when I went to school there, and 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.200 for a long time before that, probably went to Carter 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:49.320 High himself. Everyone did no other choice in this part 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:53.160 of mana Walk anyway. Principal Hunt was one of the 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:58.160 last people Detective Smith talked to before he disappeared, and 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:07.560 I want to know why, Principal Hunt. Yep, Julian, Julian Silace. 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.119 Oh right, mister Silace, agive me. It's been a long 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:15.880 time now still in okay time? Yep, fine, you don't 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.960 mind walking with me? Sure? So you are wanted to 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:24.920 know about Richard Riddell. Oh well, not exactly. Oh on 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:28.160 the phone you mentioned a Detective Solomon Smith. That's right, 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.160 so I figured it's about Ride Doll. He was a 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.919 joiner the head when Jennifer was a senior. Yes, I know, 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.320 in the way he didn't exactly stick out, you know, 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.200 kind of kind of just blended in with a wallpaper, 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.920 kept his head down, wapped the floors, kept the place spotless, 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:46.320 and left when he was done. Just an unremarkable type 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:52.159 of guy until he wasn't. I guess. Yeah, it's unthinkable 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.800 what he did to that girl. She's one of the 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:58.520 brightest we'd ever had, got herself into that women's college 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.560 all by herself. I'm actually hear about the last time 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:04.640 you talked to Detective Smith when he was here investigating 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:08.600 the murders of Deacon and Thomas Hathley. Okay, I was 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.239 just curious if you remember what the detective was looking 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.960 for when he stopped by that last time. Montainers records 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:21.200 from May eighteen, two thousand and seven. Attendance records yep, okay, 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:27.120 do you still have those? Nope? Gave him to the detective. 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.000 You never returned him neither. Do you know what he 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.080 wanted with us? Well? I imagine he wanted to know 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:37.119 who else was absent from school that afternoon, Shives, Deacon 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:42.440 and Thomas, and of course James fink you. Maybe he 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:44.800 was aiming to figure out who else might have gone 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.279 out to the caves that day. Someone always knows something. 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.440 That was a graduation week. There were lots of ceremonies 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.839 and such as. I'm sure you'll recall, antenance is always 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:01.000 highest on that week. I'll have to see if Joe 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.240 Campbell can help me find those school records. The principal, 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.160 Hunt said he gave the detective Smith if there were 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.000 other kids absent from school on May eighteenth, two thousand 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:11.720 and seven, then maybe they were there at the caves 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:15.640 when the Hadley brothers were murdered. Maybe they saw something, 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:21.680 or hell, maybe they killed him. But as far as 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.400 I knew, the only one who spent more time at 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:35.200 the caves than anyone was. In fact, James Fincher, he 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.480 was like a brother. We both came from pain. Though 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:43.440 our stories were different, we were the same. We weren't 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.839 just lonely. We were alone, in charge of ourselves, our lives, 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:53.200 even though far too young. I remember the first time 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.760 we brought him down to see the caves. When we 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.400 crusted over the small ridge and laid eyes on the hole. 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:03.280 I fell silent. I watched Finch see them for the 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:09.480 first time, wonder mixed with fear, mixed with excitement. I'll 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:13.720 never forget that. It's burned into my brain. He was 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:19.840 taken by them, like me. What I remember finished his 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:23.640 body against the mouth of the cavern, small and unguarded. 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.800 He'd walked ahead of me, and I remember catching up 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:32.120 to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. We walked 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:36.360 in far, heard the sounds of the bats above, and 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.520 deep inside, heard the strange echoes of air, the wind 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.600 catching stone off kilter. It was as humid inside as 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:48.760 it was outside, but so cool. You felt almost naked 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.600 as your teenage sweat evaporated off your back and chest 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.800 in that air, and here in your own breath I'm 0:07:55.800 --> 0:08:01.760 a breath of your friend. We stood there in the dark, 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:06.240 looking deeper in, wondering if we should go further down, 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:17.560 holding hands on shore and clammy, but holding hands. This 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:21.120 bell completely fucking broken by the eruption of the belch, 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.280 reverberating off the cave walls and echoing into the sky. 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.120 Tyler was waiting for us. Inside. He'd managed to spirit 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.600 a few tall boys away from an uncle, and so 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:32.800 the three of us sat there on the rocks and 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.400 drank them warm and told dumb jokes and talked about 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:39.600 some imagined future. But I remember the spell before it 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:47.640 was broken. Finch was mesmerized by the case Hypnotust. It 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:49.360 was like we'd shown him the only cool thing in 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:51.080 the hell hole of a town he was stuck in. 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:54.959 He loved the case. All he wanted to do was 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:59.240 go there, and after he was expelled he would go 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:03.400 there alone. We were worried Griff Washington might catch him trespassing. 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.400 No telling what that racist would do, maybe loose one 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.520 of the pit bulls on him, but Finch one anyway. 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.640 He'd found it out a world apart in escape, and 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:19.640 he'd become completely fascinated. He even spent the night there 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.559 a few times by himself and started mapping the caves 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.840 out in great detail. He also started going to the 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.920 library to find out their history. That's when he read 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.760 doctor Trattner's book God's in the Mountain and Monsters in 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.120 the Valley or some shit like that. There was a 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:39.920 history of appellation in folklore. Finch wrote to Professor Trattner too, 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:45.560 wanting to know everything you could. These same letters were 0:09:45.640 --> 0:10:11.080 later used to convict him of murder August fourth, twenty two, 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:14.560 twenty three PM. By the time Tyler and I found 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.760 the remains of Deacon and Thomas, any rite of passage 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.920 involving Griff Washington's property had long since been squashed. Back 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:23.640 in the nineties, it used to be the Griff was 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:25.800 the older guy who'd sell your cigarettes or a six 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.000 pack of crappy beer for twenty dollars mark up. He 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:30.800 didn't give a shit about kids hanging out in his 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:34.160 land because he saw it as a financial opportunity of anything. 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.080 So when kids wanted to get away from their parents, 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.000 you know, be a rebel for the night, they'd sneak 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.600 off to Griffs. Eventually, this led to a tradition amongst 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:48.520 Manowa County high schoolers. Everybody knew the caves weren't safe. 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.120 There were all kinds of stories about monsters and kids 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.199 going missing and what have you. But when you're a teenager, 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:59.520 that's part of the appeal. So the legend grew as 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:10.520 leg and stew and they still lingered today. Here's the deal. 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:15.440 Knowledge comes in different flavors. Right in the case of 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:18.840 the Man of Wad case. On the one hand, there's evidence, testimony, 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.680 police reports, all autopsies of corners, report, expert analysis and 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:28.920 so on. On the other hand, they're superstition and folklore. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:36.680 It's the horrible thing. What happened those boys? Did you 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:41.280 ever meete James Fincher in person? Doctor tredne Man only 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:45.040 respond to letters of his son. Do you think he did? 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.200 A detective? I'd be very interested to hear. What do 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:53.240 you think picked up your relationship with James? I'd say 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:58.000 it's hardly relationship. You corresponded, we weren't pipiles. If best, 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:03.520 you're trying to imply there's displayed a certain engagement, shall 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:07.080 we say, students come in don't care? Doctor Dale Trattner. 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:09.480 I looked him up on their website. It says he 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:12.000 was a cultural anthropologist and his story and at the 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.600 University of Tennessee Nastas and give him some sense when courage. Okay, 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.680 what was he curious about? He's cured for those damn caves. 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.520 There is a particularly disturbing trend to those narratives that 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.199 attacks themselves in the man a Lot caves. Then she'd 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.240 been writing letters to doctor Trattner before he was arrested, 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.520 so Smith was doing his due diligence. Stories about the 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:36.680 caves go way back beyond early settler folklore. What do 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.680 you mean, like like ghosts in which is some kind 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:44.640 of he'll billy voodoo or something. I guess something like that. 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.679 You know, there's some history about it too. What was that? 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:54.160 The Nadine O'Leary story. In the eighteen nineties, the O'Leary 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:58.199 family took shelter during a winter blizzard, who became tratt 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:02.160 inside the caves got note in that spring. As the 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:06.480 world followed, only the youngest daughter, Nadine Ole, merged in 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:11.880 the cave. That's the event Fincher was most interested in discussing. Okay, 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.680 why is that? It's one of these great unsolved mysteries 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:19.240 of this area. Last little Nadine she made out of 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:23.000 those caves back to town. She said she didn't do 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.880 it alone. But when they searched the caves that spring, 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.360 all the family members were accounted for, the remains were 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:33.760 still there. There's no way a little Nadine O'Leary could 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.319 have survived that track out of those damn mountains by herself. 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.320 She's only four years old. Detective, you still have those letters, 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:42.040 Fincher wrote you. I'm sure I have him somewhere. I'll 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:45.600 find them for you. These were the letters that the 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.200 prosecution used against Finch. They said that the letters prove 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:52.240 he was rational and aware of his actions. They claimed 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.839 this revealed the strategy on Fincher's part, a criminal mind. 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.760 They wove a narrative for the jury the Finch killed 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.880 the Hadley brothers out of revenge after he was bullied 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:07.000 by them. To add spice to their argument, they referenced 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:10.440 his library books and his second hand collection of VHS 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.800 tapes and CDs. They claimed his revenge plot was based 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:20.440 in adolescent fantasies delusions about the supernatural spirits and demons, 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:23.520 and that based on the violent nature of his killings, 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.560 he had been inspired by extreme horror movies and violent 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:32.520 music and deathcore metal. Their big legal fucking argument was 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.480 that Fincher's motive was revenge, and that his plot to 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.920 kill the Hadley brothers was fueled by delusions, beliefs about possession, 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:49.000 the paranormal, and evil from within the case. I want 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.360 you to take a look at the applicant share. On 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.800 one hand, we have a crime scene, the cave system 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:59.080 on mister Washington's property and the injuries sustained by the 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:03.320 Hadley boys. Then that crime scene, and then on the 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:08.040 other hand we have James Fincher. We have his letters 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.800 revealing an insatiable curiosity about the and I quote curse 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:19.000 of the Caves, including the mutilation of human flesh as 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:23.560 part of a ritual sacrifice required by the demonic forces 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:30.040 within those caves, the letting of human blood, and so on. Now, 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:33.760 when you take those factors and put them together, the 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:38.000 overwhelming evidence points to the fact that this case has 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:44.280 all the markings of a ritualistic, a cult murder, a 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:51.040 satanic murder, if you will. Then there's evidence of premeditation, 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:57.800 evidence that this was a meticulously constructed crime. The crime 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.400 scene itself, matching the drawings and diagrams found in the 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:06.760 defendant's own bedroom, diagrams of the caves with markings that 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:11.120 match the exact location where the bodies were found. And 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:16.280 it is clear that James Fincher calculated, plotted, and premeditated 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:21.280 the cold blooded murders of Deacon and Thomas Hadley in 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:26.680 those caves. What was done to Thomas and Deacon Hadley 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:34.720 is hard to comprehend, but it happened. It's not a dream, 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:40.360 it's not fiction. The defense will tell us that there 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:44.840 is no concrete evidence that the defendant, James Fincher, perpetrated 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:49.400 these heinous and brutal acts, despite witness testimony and a 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:55.080 clear motive. These are the facts, and the fact is 0:16:55.440 --> 0:17:00.359 that it doesn't matter if we believe the caves are hard. 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.760 It doesn't matter if any of us believe in demons, 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:10.480 our ghosts, or are Satan themselves. The only thing that matters, 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:17.960 that's what James Fincher believes. Finchers was a witch trial. 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:21.760 I highly doubt such arguments as the prosecution made then 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.280 would have held weighted anywhere else in the civilized world. 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.760 But this is Manowa County. Between the mind grip that 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.520 Reverend Perkins had on the folks of this little Salem 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:35.919 and the deep seated superstitions about the caves. It's actually 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:40.879 kind of a genius prosecution strategy. After all, there was 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:44.280 plenty of lore surrounding the case. The legend I always 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:46.400 heard was that someone lived in the caves, half man, 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.680 half demon like. Doctor Trattner said, these kinds of stories 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.840 exist all over the world. They're basically warnings for kids 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:58.840 to stay out of the woods, right There are fucking 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.440 wolves in there, and they want your innocence in any 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:07.360 food you're bringing to Granny. In the case of Maniwa, 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:09.800 the stories were meant to keep us away from those 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:14.760 goddamn caves. But rumors are built partially on evidence too. 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.960 They're kind of more like theories that live somewhere between 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:24.879 fact and fiction. Two years after Jennifer Fowler left Maniwa County, 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.119 a boy named Matthew Sweetzer was found dead in the 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:32.480 cave with a single action revolver in his hand. Apparently 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:36.600 he was related to Richard Rydell second Cause and once 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:41.159 removed or something. Well. When the Haley brothers were found 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:45.639 dead in the cave, everyone had the same thought, there's 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:50.480 a murderer amongst us. You'd think that thought would charge 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:55.080 every interaction with dread suspicion, but instead it sort of 0:18:55.080 --> 0:19:00.119 bound the town together, in entire town against one one 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:13.640 eighteen year old boy. I'm heading over to meet Fincher's sister. Now, Dina, 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:18.080 you're recording this if it's all right with you yet 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.440 helps with the details, which helps with you know, Okay, 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.440 h listen, thanks you know, for a grant to even 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:33.080 this though, like, just thanks for meeting with me. I'll 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:34.960 get it twisted. This is for James, not for you. 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:38.800 I don't care about whatever little self forgiveness journey you're on. 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:41.000 You said you wanted to help my brother get off 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:44.439 death row. That's the only reason, and I mean the 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:48.520 only reason you are here. Yeah, I get all that. 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.280 You're right obviously, and that's what I want to do too. 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:57.639 So Jimmy, turn that thing down. We got company. Dina's son, Jimmy, 0:19:57.720 --> 0:19:59.800 was born a few months after his uncle, James Fincher 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:04.359 was put on death row. Jimmy's fourteen. Now. He was 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.399 named after his uncle, but James Fincher was never Jimmy 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:09.760 to me. He wasn't even James, he was just Finch. 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.000 Finch had a speech impediment, told me once that words 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.360 that start with the letter Jay gave him a hard 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.679 time any letters that required his tongue to touch the 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:24.360 top of his mouth. So he hated saying his own name, James. 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.880 He would stutter, elongate the vowels, try to bury the confidence. 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:32.840 I always made a point to call him Finch after 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:39.160 he told me that, so Finch. Finch and his younger sister, 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:42.160 Dina moved to Maniwa County when they were twelve and sixteen. 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.920 I felt sorry for Finch from the second he first 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:51.440 stepped foot on our school bus. He looked frail and 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.000 wide eyed. The wheels were spinning in his mind like 0:20:55.040 --> 0:21:00.080 a turbine. It's tough to be a new kid, but 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.639 a new kid that stood out. I mean, who was 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:06.480 this guy? Where did he come from? And the rumors 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:09.399 spread quick He thought her both of his parents with 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:12.000 nothing but a pocket knife. He was really a thirty 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:14.320 five year old undercoverage and sent by the FBI to 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.679 investigate a chemical spill in the town's drinking water. He 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:20.800 was a genuine homosexual and sent a man a walk 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:25.480 for conversion therapy. Whatever was said about James Fincher when 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:28.919 he first showed up, it was a disruption, and it 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:33.400 stoked the tribal instincts in Pottsville clans. And it didn't 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.879 take long for bullies to prey on him either. I 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:41.879 wanted to stand up for him, but I couldn't. Not 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:44.800 the time Deacon Hadley threw a couple of Warren pists 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:48.960 on his head from the second story bathroom, and not 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:52.760 the time Thomas Hadley locked him in his locker. I 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:55.879 wanted to stop it, but I knew it would just 0:21:55.960 --> 0:22:01.640 make matters worse for me. I'd suffered bullying self all 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:05.040 through Junior High, and I learned how not to call 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:11.359 attention to myself, so I did nothing at first. But 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:15.000 not calling attention to yourself isn't the skill Finch would 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:18.280 ever be able to master. He had only been riding 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:21.760 the bus for a week before Thomas Hadley sat down 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:25.440 next to him, reached into his lunch bag, pulled out 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.600 a carton a chocolate milk, and poured it over Finch's head. 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:34.800 I remember panicing, My heart was pounded in my chest, 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:39.040 my mouth got dried and I couldn't breathe. I remember 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:44.520 Thomas crushing the carton against Finch's chest. Finch didn't five 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:47.199 back he didn't even react. Maybe he felt that if 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:49.480 he did stand up to them, it would only make 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:52.479 things worse for him and his sister. Maybe he just 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:57.400 checked out, disassociated as a means of survival. That's what 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:00.200 I used to do in this sixth grade was the 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:02.840 easy target. I wasn't into the ship that the other 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:06.520 kids liked. I didn't play sports, I love Doctor Who 0:23:06.920 --> 0:23:11.200 an anime, and would rather read a book than play outside. 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:14.800 So they called me a loser or geek or faggot. 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.720 They didn't ask what you're eating, They asked what you're 0:23:18.720 --> 0:23:24.000 eating for. Thomas and Deacon used to terrorize me once. 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:25.800 They cornered me in the back of the auditorium and 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:27.760 they beat my ass and dumped a piss on me, 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:30.800 and I was too terrified and too ashamed to call 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:34.200 for help. Instead, I remember feeling like I wasn't even there, 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:37.960 Like I had gone from my body, gone from the school, 0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:43.640 gone from Manowa County, my solo taking refuge someplace safe, 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:49.160 any place but there. But that day on the bus 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:53.119 with Fincher or something snapped after Thomas Porter's melk on 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:57.240 Fincher's head, Duelly Tapper joined in. Monkey see Monkey do 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:00.680 I remember seeing Dully des I had to do it 0:24:02.200 --> 0:24:05.159 his dull fucking face, looking around and see if the 0:24:05.160 --> 0:24:08.040 bus drivers even gave a shit. He started to pour 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:11.159 his arms juice on finish. I don't know. Maybe it 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:13.639 was because Duty was less of a threat than Thomas Hadley, 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:16.360 but suddenly all of the PTSD in the shame i'd 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:21.800 carried him, a guy sixth grade, I turned to rage. 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:24.879 I don't think I was even completely conscious when I 0:24:24.880 --> 0:24:27.760 reached out and smacked the juice out of Duy's fat 0:24:27.880 --> 0:24:32.600 hand man and watched the explode on his face. You 0:24:32.760 --> 0:24:35.400 getting nap back. It was my first let chit fat. 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:40.719 When we lasted a minute before the bus driver stopped 0:24:40.720 --> 0:24:45.080 the bus and broke it up. I remember the tears 0:24:45.160 --> 0:24:49.160 came hot and salty, and I couldn't stop him. I'm 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:51.520 not supposed to cry on when you're a seventeen year old, 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:56.120 but I couldn't hold him back anymore. Well, look who 0:24:56.119 --> 0:25:00.680 wears the pants in this love affair, that's deacon, said 0:25:00.720 --> 0:25:07.840 Everyone laughed. After that, they called us lovers, me and Finch. 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:13.400 They spread their rumors anyway. Me and Dually got suspended 0:25:13.440 --> 0:25:15.280 from the bus, so Dina and Finch were on their 0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:19.639 own after that, and it wasn't long before Dina suffered 0:25:19.680 --> 0:25:24.040 the attention of the Hadleys. The looks in the stairing 0:25:24.160 --> 0:25:28.320 probably wasn't new for Dina. Even at fourteen years old, 0:25:28.960 --> 0:25:32.160 Dina wasn't particularly well developed. She was behind what would 0:25:32.160 --> 0:25:37.560 be considered average for her age. Physically speaking. She dressed 0:25:37.560 --> 0:25:40.640 primarily and her brother's hand me down clothes. She kept 0:25:40.640 --> 0:25:42.960 her eyes down, her nose out of trouble, and I 0:25:43.119 --> 0:25:45.879 tried not to be noticed. And that's because she was 0:25:46.040 --> 0:25:51.000 always noticed. Dina Fincher was her own disruption in Manowa County, 0:25:51.640 --> 0:25:53.760 but where Finch had a speech impediment for people to 0:25:53.840 --> 0:25:58.439 latch on to, Dina was just female. And to borrow 0:25:58.440 --> 0:26:00.720 the phrase the Deacon Hadley was so fond of using, 0:26:01.720 --> 0:26:07.280 Dina was exotic. The same word used to describe alien 0:26:07.400 --> 0:26:12.760 fruits and endangered animals and lascivious dances applied here to 0:26:12.840 --> 0:26:17.439 a young girl. Her skin, darker, eyes deeper, gate timid, 0:26:17.720 --> 0:26:21.439 and Deacon became fixated on Dina Fincher. He started referring 0:26:21.480 --> 0:26:24.520 to her as his little squaw, a blatant ethnic and 0:26:24.560 --> 0:26:32.159 sexual slur. That's when the Fincher's quit riding the bus. Unfortunately, 0:26:32.200 --> 0:26:34.320 in the end, the bus probably would have been safer. 0:26:36.320 --> 0:26:40.000 It was the last day before spring break. Dina left 0:26:40.040 --> 0:26:43.240 school that day, same as any other day. While she 0:26:43.280 --> 0:26:45.919 waited for her brother, she noticed Deacon and Thomas Hadley 0:26:45.960 --> 0:26:49.120 propped up against a tree watching her. When they caught 0:26:49.119 --> 0:26:54.480 her eye, things escalated, lewd mouth gestures, wolf whistles, crotch grabbing. 0:26:55.480 --> 0:26:58.000 When Finch finally arrived, Dina didn't mention it because it 0:26:58.040 --> 0:27:00.600 wasn't out of the ordinary behavior. This kind of thing 0:27:00.640 --> 0:27:03.080 happened so often with the boys in Maniwa County that 0:27:03.160 --> 0:27:06.360 Tina had just gotten used to it, so she dismissed 0:27:06.400 --> 0:27:08.639 it like she would on any other given day, and 0:27:08.760 --> 0:27:11.120 began a three mile walk back to the Splinter Gap 0:27:11.160 --> 0:27:14.320 trailer park with her brother. Dina was aware that the 0:27:14.359 --> 0:27:17.520 Hadley brothers were following them, but she wasn't worried. She 0:27:17.560 --> 0:27:22.160 had her brother there, and besides, following wasn't new either. 0:27:23.000 --> 0:27:25.680 Anything to get a rise out of her wasn't new. 0:27:26.800 --> 0:27:28.840 She had been trained time and time again to believe 0:27:28.880 --> 0:27:31.040 the men were full of empty threats, but lacked the 0:27:31.119 --> 0:27:35.040 gumption to actually make good on them. When the Hadleys 0:27:35.080 --> 0:27:38.520 were still following them out passed where the sidewalk endid 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:42.560 down the descolate stretch of mountain road leading towards Splinter Gap. 0:27:43.440 --> 0:27:50.679 Dina started getting nervous that it happened. Thomas Harley had 0:27:50.680 --> 0:27:52.639 gotten a hold of a rock about the size of 0:27:52.720 --> 0:27:54.880 a great prudent and let it fly across the back 0:27:54.880 --> 0:28:00.440 of Inch's head. It dropped them and Thomas hind him 0:28:00.440 --> 0:28:04.000 down on the grass where he was powerless to stop 0:28:04.080 --> 0:28:26.000 taking from going after his sister. Jimmy doesn't know the 0:28:26.000 --> 0:28:29.640 particulars about his birth or that his uncle's in jail 0:28:29.680 --> 0:28:36.520 because he killed Jimmy's biological father. Way what Jimmy's biological father. 0:28:37.240 --> 0:28:56.040 Jimmy's biological father was Deacon Hadley. I don't know why 0:28:56.040 --> 0:28:57.800 it never occurred to me who was the father of 0:28:57.840 --> 0:29:01.560 Dena's son, Jimmy. But you wasn't bashful about letting me know. 0:29:02.760 --> 0:29:08.000 Dina was assaulted, violated, and impregnated by Dickon Hadley. I 0:29:08.040 --> 0:29:13.400 didn't know. No one does. It's a town secret, except 0:29:13.440 --> 0:29:16.080 that at ain't. It was kept out of the trial. 0:29:16.800 --> 0:29:21.400 Why Bobby Hadley didn't want it out? The defense attorney 0:29:21.440 --> 0:29:25.080 didn't want the jury here in that either. It only 0:29:25.120 --> 0:29:27.720 made the prosecution's argument stronger because what has shown a 0:29:27.720 --> 0:29:33.719 clear motive undernobyl. They still went with revenge, but they 0:29:33.720 --> 0:29:39.080